PM posters smeared ahead of Orissa visit

The poster war over claiming of credit for Indian Oil Corporation’s Paradip Refinery turned ugly on Saturday as black paint was smeared on the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the state.

The posters of Mr Modi put up along the Raj Bhavan Square to AG Square were painted black late Friday night — hours after chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s posters were torn and grounded.

The saffron party leaders blamed it on their opponents Biju Janata Dal and condemned the incident.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling BJD are on a poster blitz ahead of the PM’s visit for the inauguration of the IOCL refinery in Paradip, the political parties are entangled in a war of words to hijack the credit for the successful completion of the project.

“Prime Minister is not of any party. The foundation stone for the project was laid in 2004 when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. The project did not take off when the UPA government was in power. The work was expedited after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. The PM will dedicate this to the nation on Sunday,” a BJP leader said.